House-door letter-box



(No Model.)

J. P. LINDSAY. EoUsE nooE LETTER B0X.

110.461,11?. Patented Oct. 18,1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J Ol-IN P. LNDSAY, OF TEST DERBY, VERWONT.

HOUSE-DOOR LETTER-BOX.

SECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,117', dated October13, 1891.

. Application filed March 4, 189]..

T0 all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN P. LINDSAY, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at West Derby, in the county of Orleans and State of Vermont,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-ClosingLetter-Receivers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to improvements in self-closing letter-receivers;and it has for its object to provide a neatand efficient device forreceiving letters, parcels, or other mailmatter which automaticallycloses to prevent tampering with such matter or peculations byeviledisposed persons; and a further object is to provide means forconveying water and dust which may accumulate on the receiving bed orplate to the outside ot the door.

With these ends in view my invention consists of an incised face-plateprovided with a perforated receiving plate or bed and having a largereceiving-opening above the bed and a small conduit-opening below saidreceiving-bed. Projecting outwardly from the upper portion of thereceiving-opening and extending downward in front of said opening,substantially to the plane of the upper end ot' the receiving bed orplate, is a curved hood, which has its lower end chambered, in which ispivoted an automatic angular closing-plate arranged to lit over thereceiving bed or plate and conduit and provided with a Weighted shortend opening in the chamber formed by the hood, whereby the closing-platemay be readily raised to introduce mail-matter in the opening and closedagain by gravity.

To enable others to more readily understand my invention, I haveillustrated the same in the accompanying' drawings, in which- Figure 1is a front elevation of my improved device arranged for operation on adoor. Fig. 2 isavertical sectional view taken on the line x of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a detail view of the angular closing-plate, and Fig. 4 is adetail view of the perforated receiving bed or plate.

Serial No. 383,745. (No model.)

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters of reference denotecorresponding parts in all the gures of the drawings, A designates theface-plate, which is attached to a door by means of screws a orothersuitable means, which faceplate can be ornamented so as to presentan attractive and neat appearance. The face-plate is provided with twoapertures or openings B C, thelarge opening B providing for the passageof letters and parcels to the inside of the door, and the small openingC serves as a conduit to conduct water, dust, thc., to the outside. Theopening and conduit are of suitable proportions to the size of theface-plate and the door to which the appliance is secured, and the upperend D of the face-plate is bent inwardly at an obtuse angle to form thelower side of the conduit C, whereby water and dirt which drop into theconduit into the receiving-bed or accumulate in any other inannertherein are conducted to the outside and prevented from issuing from theopening B. The large opening B extends from the re'- ceiving-bed Ealmost to the upper end of the face-plate, but a small iiange isprovided by which said face-plate is secured to a door.

The receiving plate or bed E may be cast of one piece and bent at anobtuse angle to conform to the angle D ofthe face-plate, or it maybeconstructed of two pieces, as preferred; but in either case thereceiving bed or plate is provid ed with suitable perforations e, whichopen into the conduit C, and the face-plate may be corrugated and theperforations extend in the grooves, as shown in Fig. 4. The receivingbed or plate extends inwardly asufticient distance to catch any water ordirt which maybe driven upon it, and such accumulated water or dirt isdischarged directly upon the base D of the conduit through theperforations e, from where the saine is then conveyed to the outside ofthe door. The lower end e of the receiving plate or bed is bent orarranged in a vertical position, parallel to the faceplate and in closejuxtaposition thereto, and it is provided with a lug or projection onits lower end, which may be used or adapted to sustain a door-plate or anotice of the collection and delivery of the mail. Arranged in the upperend of the larger aperture B is a hood F, which curves out- IOOwardlyand downwardly in front of the opening B, and it has the straightvertical sides. The lower free end of this hood is provided with avertical straight portion G, which may be formed with the same piece ofmetal as the hood itself, or it may be constructed separately andsecured to the hood by any suitable means. The lower vertical end G ofthe hood is provided with a horizontal strip or iange g, which projectsinside of the hood, and thus forms a cavity H on the inside of the hood,which has its lower edge substantially in the same horizontal plane asthe upper end ot the receiving-plate. Pivoted within the cavity H of thehood is the angular closing wardly-extending iianges t', on either sidethereof, to more ettectually protect the receiving and face plates, andit thus closes the upper end of the conduit and provides an additionalprecaution against the water or dirt entering the house. The upper endof the closing-plate I is enlarged and weighted and is arranged tooperate within the cavity H, so that it will assist in raising the plateto permit access to the aperture B for the reception ot' letters andother mail-matter. By this peculiar and novel arrangement of the hood,the chamber, and the closing-plate the letters and parcels which havebeen placed in the house cannot be removed from the outside, as

the strip g is close to and substantially in the same plane as the topof the receiving-plate, and the closing-plate is normally closed oversaid receiving-plate by gravity, and thus prevents water and'dust fromentering the house and at the same time prevents the letters or parcelsin the house from being extracted by a person on the outside.

When it is desired to pass a letter or parcel through the door, it issimply necessary to elevate the` closing-plate and drop the letter orparcel therein, and when the pressure against the plate is removed itresumes its position by gravity.

Although I prefer to use myimproved device.

by securing it to the door of an office or dwelling, I also desire touse the same in connection with the ordinary letter-boxes which arecommonly used for the reception of mail.

I am aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and indetails of construction may be used without departing from the spirit orsacrificing the advantages of my invention, and I therefore reserve theright to make such changes as fall within the scope of my invention.

I-Iavin g thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secureby Letters Patent, is

1. A self-closing letter-receiver comprising the face-plate, thereceiving-opening, the conduit, the perforated receiving-bed arrangedabove the conduit, a hood, and the closingplate, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a self-closing letter-receiver, the faceplate, a conduit, areceiving-opening, the hood projecting outward and downward over saidopening and having a cavity in its lower inner side, and a closing-platepivoted in said cavity and depending over the conduit and thereceiving-opening to close the same, substantially as described.

3. In a self-closing letter-receiver, a conduit, a receiving-plate abovesaid conduit, a hood provided with a cavity and projecting downwardlyover the receiving-plate, and an angular closing-plate having its largerweighted end pivoted in said cavity and its lower end depending over therear end of the receiving-plate and conduit and provided with anges t"to inclose the letter, substantially as described.

4. In a self-closing letter-receiver, a receivingaperture,'a hood abovesaid aperture, a receiving-bed, a conduit, and an angular closing-platehaving one end pivoted in said hood and its other end shaped to coverthe rear end of said conduit, substantially as described.

5. In a self-closing letter-receiver, a conduit, and a receiving bed orplate arranged above the conduit and perforated to deposit water anddirt into said conduit, substantially as described.

6. In a self-closing letter-receiver, the combination of a face-plateprovided with the receiving-aperture,-the hood having the cavity in itslower end, the weighted closing plate pivoted in said cavity and adaptedto close the receiving-aperture, the perforated receiving bed or platearranged relatively to the face-plate to form a conduit below saidreceiving-plate for conveyingv water and 'dirt to the outside,substantially as described.

7. In aself-closing letter-receiver, the faceplate having an inclinedportion, the hood, a closing-plate, and the receiving-bed arranged abovethe inclined portion of the face-plate t0 form a conduit, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN P. LINDSAY.

Witnesses.

GEORGE E. HINMAN, ADELAIDE H. LINDSAY.

